The program in psychology examines contemporary perspectives on principles of human behavior, in areas ranging from cognition, language, development, and behavioral neuroscience to interpersonal relations, and psychopathology.

Bowdoin offered its first psychology course as part of the Department of Philosophy in 1904. In the decades since then, the field has grown dramatically and has evolved close ties to both natural sciences and humanities, making it a central part of Bowdoin's overall liberal arts curriculum. The Department of Psychology currently offers courses in areas ranging from animal neurophysiology to human language, from basic perceptual processes to developmental and clinical psychology. Its approach emphasizes scientific methods of inquiry and analysis. The Neuroscience Program, sponsored jointly by the departments of psychology and biology, examines the relationships between biological processes and behaviors, including both human and animal studies.